The Berlin-based firm has been renamed N26 after being awarded a full German banking licence by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority and the European Central Bank. 

Valentin Stalf, founder and CEO of N26, said: “This banking licence is an important additional step for us to sustainably change the value chain in retail banking.

“This will allow us to significantly enhance the diversity of our product portfolio.

“We are very pleased that the regulators are confident in the success of our business model.”

N26 now has full regulatory approval to conduct banking operations across Europe, nine months after its initial application.

The authorisation follows a successful funding round in June, through which the bank raised £27.28m worth of investment.

In June, N26 was also forced to explain its actions after cancelling hundreds of current accounts due to excessive usage.

N26 revealed that it is now planning innovations such as real-time credit, artificial intelligence security measures and simplified bill-splitting solutions.

Markus Gunter, CEO of N26 Bank, added: “We’ve leveraged the most modern technology to build one of the leanest banks in the world.

“This significantly sets us apart from competitors and allows us to offer our users the optimal mobile banking experience in Europe.

“The licence will enable us to bring additional innovative products to market, starting in the next few weeks.”

Founded in 2013, the bank now has more than 200,000 customers in eight European countries.